Dame Abimbola Fashola, wife of the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, has called for mutual respect among Nigerians for physically-challenged persons in the country. She made the call at the 2018 May Ball event of the Federal Nigeria Society for the Blind (FNSB), held in Lagos.

FNSB is a non-governmental organisation established in 1955 by some philanthropists to cater for the welfare of visually impaired persons.

Fashola said: “There is nothing wrong with visually impaired persons, they are special people that should be treated the same way we treat ourselves.

They are the people we should show more love to, people we should be concerned about their welfare and ensure that they get the best in the country.”

When asked on Nigerians and governments attitude towards visually impaired individual and other physically challenged persons in the country, compared to other developed countries in the world, Fashola who is also a Trustee of the centre, said, “I have a diverse opinion about that because, when we ourselves can’t treat each other with respect, do you expect anything better for them?

But we need to improve, we need to get better and appreciate ourselves; no matter your person and status in the society, no matter the circumstances or challenges, let’s learn to show respect and love one another and the world we be a better place.

My advice to the public is, treat everyone like yourself, love everyone no matter the condition, their status in the land and learn to uplift one another.

On his part, FNSB chairman, Asiwaju Fola Osibo, said the event was held to express appreciation to all their benefactors who have supported them over the years and to showcase students with various talents.

“You know, when people lose their sight, they tend to love music and want to do a lot in that area so, we have facilities to train our students how to operate musical instrument.

“We train our students on how to operate computer; It may surprise a sighted person to see a blind person operating a computer.

We teach them how to read and communicate with Braille, how to make bags, basket, indigo-dyed clothes, and how to be self-reliant.

Visually impaired persons can cook their own food, iron their clothes, use a telephone and do other things a sighted person do.”

We have a vocational training centre in Oshodi where we rehabilitate and train people who lose their sight; we also have facility for gym.

We encourage those who are academically inclined, after been trained and rehabilitated to further their education.

May Ball event is a flagship event for FNSB and the event is a social event where we showcase what we do and we also seize the opportunity to ask for more support.

It costs us N750,000 per year to train a student and we don’t generate anything, we depend on people’s generous giving

He added, “Federal Nigeria Society for the Blind is what you can call a national organisation; people from every part of the country come here to study and people support us all over the country so, we are open to everybody and we call for more support.